Chapter 277: I Almost Admire the Killer (Last Update of the Year)

Chen Shi paced around, deep in thought. As he looked around the scene, replaying the events in his mind, he suddenly asked, “Why did he spray water at the reporters?”

“To drive them away, obviously,” Lin Dongxue replied.

“What did he use to spray the water?”

“Probably the hose by the fish tank.”

“Where were you? Had you moved away from the window?”

“Of course! Although I didn’t get splashed, I moved away instinctively, fearing he might spray again.”

“How long were you away?”

“Around ten minutes. I was asking the reporters if their equipment was damaged.”

“What were Xu Xiaodong and Officer Luo doing?”

“Officer Luo was also checking on the reporters. Xu Xiaodong… well, he was staring at the female reporter’s wet chest.”

“So, the entrance of the building was almost deserted, with no one paying attention because everyone was dealing with the situation?” Chen Shi’s tone was excited.

Lin Dongxue looked towards the building entrance in surprise. There were flowerbeds on either side. Peng Sijue noticed them too and shone a UV light over the area, saying, “There are footprints!”

“These footprints are odd, with weight concentrated on the toes. This person was sneaking around.”

“No way!” Lin Dongxue was shocked. “You mean…”

“Yes!” Chen Shi nodded with a smile. “The water was sprayed by the killer. After the victim cursed at the reporters, he went to the bedroom where the killer, already hiding, struck him dead. Then the killer used the hose to spray water at you all and escaped during the commotion.”

Lin Dongxue covered her mouth in astonishment, “Is there really such a daring killer?”

“Daring and meticulous.”

Peng Sijue had an idea and took the investigation kit to the scene. Chen Shi said, “It can be proven. The reporters’ cameras were on at the time and might have captured the killer’s shadow.”

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

Peng Sijue called from the window, “Come inside.”

The two entered the scene where Peng Sijue was extracting fingerprints from the hose. He said, “The fingerprints are only the victim’s… However, this hose has been submerged in the fish tank for a long time and is covered in algae. The end of it has a spot where the algae is wiped away, but there are no fingerprints.”

Chen Shi followed his reasoning, “The killer wore gloves, which wiped away the algae but left no fingerprints.”

Lin Dongxue was impressed, “How did you think of this?”

Chen Shi smiled, “I put myself in the killer’s shoes. How would I escape the scene?”

Lin Dongxue pouted in disdain.

Peng Sijue stared at the fish tank for a while before taking some water samples.

Peng Sijue headed back to the station, while Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue went to the TV station. It was evening, and the place was bustling. No one paid attention to them as Lin Dongxue repeatedly said, “We’re looking for…” but was ignored.

Chen Shi said, “They’re broadcasting the evening news. Let’s just go in ourselves!”

“Is that okay?”

“You have a police badge. What’s there to worry about?”

They entered room after room until they found a video editing room. Inside, people were busy editing footage, eating takeout, smoking, or scratching their heads. They all looked unhappy, and the room was filled with the sighs of overworked individuals.

“They look like slaves on a galley ship,” Lin Dongxue remarked. “I thought our task force was tough.”

A tired-looking man asked, “Who let you in?”

Lin Dongxue showed her badge, “Police. We need to see the footage from the night of April 16, shot at Guanghua Community.”

“Ask him!” The man pointed to a bald editor buried under equipment.

The editor lazily asked, “Which footage?”

“The night of April 16, at Guanghua Community. It’s about the cat killer news.”

He searched on his computer and asked, “Which date?”

“April 16, evening…”

“Where?”

“Guanghua Community.”

“What content?”

Lin Dongxue was getting frustrated, “The cat killer!”

“Oh, that? It’s already aired. Look it up online.”

“We need to see the original footage.”

“What’s so great about the original? It’s a mess… Which department are you from?”

“Police!” Lin Dongxue said, realizing the guy had a short memory.

“Why do you need to see it? Did our boss approve?”

Chen Shi handed him fifty yuan, “Take a break and have dinner. We’ll handle it.”

“Just don’t delete anything.”

Chen Shi sat Lin Dongxue down at the computer. She navigated through the files, saying, “Wow, the original video files are huge, tens of gigabytes.”

“Our USB drive won’t be enough.”

After some searching, they found the relevant footage. The reporter was talking when suddenly a stream of water sprayed from the balcony. The camera shook violently, making it impossible to see clearly.

Lin Dongxue rewound and played it several times but still couldn’t make it out.

Chen Shi said, “Load it into the editing software and watch it frame by frame.”

“Hey, they have other files open. Don’t mess with it.”

“Let’s create a new project… import… done!”

As Chen Shi leaned in to operate, his face was close to Lin Dongxue’s. She could see the stubble on his chin and smiled, “How do you know all this?”

“Who am I?” Chen Shi grinned proudly, then noticed Lin Dongxue’s face illuminated by the screen light.

Frame by frame, they saw that nothing was visible inside the window. The hose seemed to appear out of nowhere and start spraying water. Chen Shi adjusted the contrast, but still, no one was visible.

Lin Dongxue bit her nail, “No one’s visible?”

“Do you think that’s normal?”

“Oh, you mean the person deliberately crouched down to spray the water.”

“It seems this person was very cautious about being seen.”

Lin Dongxue rewound the footage a bit. When Ma was talking to the reporter, his face was clearly visible. It confirmed Chen Shi’s theory that the person spraying water wasn’t Ma.

In the video, Lin Dongxue noticed something. She tried to point it out but couldn’t move the mouse. Chen Shi took the mouse and zoomed in on the frame.

“Here!” She pointed.

“I see it.”

As Ma cursed at the reporters, the bedroom door behind him slightly opened. Lin Dongxue felt a chill, realizing the killer had sneaked into the bedroom while Ma was talking to the reporters.

Chen Shi said, “I think the water spraying was a brilliant move by the killer, not premeditated. How long Ma would talk or whether he’d enter the bedroom was unpredictable.”

“What if Ma had walked into the living room?”

“The killer might have had another plan. We’ll never know… Anyway, this killer is smart, bold, meticulous… I almost admire them!”

“Hey, you can’t be serious!”